This invention relates to clipboards having a writing board with a spring clip for holding papers and the like, and, more particularly, to such clipboards which can be suspended on a slat wall, from file suspension rails, or both.
It is, of course, well known that clipboards are extremely useful in a variety of business, industrial and institutional applications in which a portable writing board is desired. For certain applications, it can be desirable to retain papers and/or other similar materials on the clipboard and to suspend the clipboard on a vertical surface or wall in order to conspicuously display printed or handwritten information, maintain easy access of the clipboard and any information recorded on paper held by the clipboard, or both.
Known means for suspending a clipboard on a wall or other vertical surface have included magnets, adhesives, and fastener openings for hanging the clipboard on a nail, hook or the like. These known means for suspending a clipboard all have certain functional disadvantages, aesthetic disadvantages, or both. Magnets are obviously limited to metal walls, metal file cabinets or other metal surfaces, which can sometimes be undesirable for aesthetic reasons. Another disadvantage is that magnets having a magnetic field which is strong enough to support a clipboard which can retain a large stack of papers can be somewhat difficult to separate from the metal support surface when the clipboard is not retaining a large stack of papers. Adhesives for supporting a clipboard on a wall or other vertical surface have several very obvious disadvantages, such as limited reusability and either excessive or insufficient tackiness for securing the clipboard and papers to a particular wall or vertical surface without damaging the surface or leaving residue thereon. An opening in the clipboard for receiving a nail, hook or other support member provides a simple and effective means for suspending a clipboard on a wall, but requires installing unsightly and potentially dangerous projecting nails or similar support members onto a wall or other vertical surface on which the clipboard is to be suspended.
McKinnon, Jr., (U.S. Design Pat. No. 284,776) discloses a clipboard having a pair of upper, laterally disposed, rearwardly projecting, slotted bracket members which can apparently be used for supporting the clipboard on a pair of upwardly projecting support rods. This design has substantially the same disadvantages as the previously discussed clipboards adapted to be hung on nails, hooks or the like. Specifically, in order to mount the clipboard disclosed by McKinnon, Jr., to a wall, a pair of support members having upwardly projecting rod portions would need to be mounted to the wall. These wall mounted support members would likely be aesthetically unappealing and could, for example, cause pain and injury to a person who inadvertently backs into them.
There are also occasions when it can be desirable to retain paper on a clipboard and store the clipboard and paper together in a file drawer. For example, written information pertaining to several different active subjects or projects could be separately retained, each on its own individual clipboard, to form a plurality of active files which can be stored together in a file drawer in accordance with a prescribed file organization system. Clipboard based files could be very convenient in a variety of situations where information is frequently hand written into a file at a location remote from a desk top or other suitable writing board. However, commercially available clipboards typically require a very specialized support mechanism.